Yixing repair attempt

Well I just broke my first pot. The entire bottom broke right out. Luckily it is my worst pot as well as being huge, so there are only 3 pieces. I purchased the j-b marineweld that tingjunkie used and it will arrive on Wednesday. Luckily it goes together pretty easily, so ill update on Wednesday when I make an attempt to fix it. Here are some pics of the break

Last edited by Exempt on Mar 31st, '13, 02:41, edited 1 time in total.

I've repaired a couple of lids with epoxy or superglue. Both worked great and if you are careful to not have the glue visible the cracks ads some nice wabi. using gold or silver is supposedly the 'right' way to do this, but whatever... there are some gold and silver epoxies that could be used?

tenuki wrote:I've repaired a couple of lids with epoxy or superglue. Both worked great and if you are careful to not have the glue visible the cracks ads some nice wabi. using gold or silver is supposedly the 'right' way to do this, but whatever... there are some gold and silver epoxies that could be used?

I'm sure there are, but I've ordered some j-b marineweld. It's cheap and strong. Also tingjunkie proved that it worked (and assuming he's still alive that it's non-toxic)

Poor mans kintsugi!! I like it! I'm so giving that a whirl if (,hopefully not WHEN) I ever break some teaware.

Mind you, if I broke an expensive pot with some hard earned patina, I'd probably be more inclined to pay a professional kintsugi artist, they are few and far between but well worth the money for handmade workhorse pots I think.

What I did was have some qtips handy and a soft cloth. used a bowl of rice to hold things together while drying, just stick it down in the rice after initial set and let dry. use a toothpick to smear the two sides of the break with _very little_ mixed material, then put them together and wipe any excess with cloth in a way to not spread it on the surface at all. finally got it right after the last one. lol.

Poor mans kintsugi!! I like it! I'm so giving that a whirl if (,hopefully not WHEN) I ever break some teaware.

Mind you, if I broke an expensive pot with some hard earned patina, I'd probably be more inclined to pay a professional kintsugi artist, they are few and far between but well worth the money for handmade workhorse pots I think.

Rather curious how either of you can manage to heat it up to 1200F? I'd be worried what would happen hitting my teaware with a torch for such localized high heat levels. I am no thermal stress expert, but considering things like chaozhou teapots have been known to crack from warming up too fast by having boiling water added on a cold day.

While I have heard of people re-firing ceramics to repair them or alter them slightly, I think the only real safe way this can be done is to somewhat evenly heat the entire piece. to avoid localized thermal shocks. While the entire instructions are not posted, I imagine the stove top or butane torch that it says you can use have to be used for long enough to heat up the clay you are hitting to 1200F for a certain length of time, it's probably not just waving it over the part for a few seconds.

Poor mans kintsugi!! I like it! I'm so giving that a whirl if (,hopefully not WHEN) I ever break some teaware.

Mind you, if I broke an expensive pot with some hard earned patina, I'd probably be more inclined to pay a professional kintsugi artist, they are few and far between but well worth the money for handmade workhorse pots I think.

Rather curious how either of you can manage to heat it up to 1200F? I'd be worried what would happen hitting my teaware with a torch for such localized high heat levels. I am no thermal stress expert, but considering things like chaozhou teapots have been known to crack from warming up too fast by having boiling water added on a cold day.

While I have heard of people re-firing ceramics to repair them or alter them slightly, I think the only real safe way this can be done is to somewhat evenly heat the entire piece. to avoid localized thermal shocks. While the entire instructions are not posted, I imagine the stove top or butane torch that it says you can use have to be used for long enough to heat up the clay you are hitting to 1200F for a certain length of time, it's probably not just waving it over the part for a few seconds.

Most YMCAs have kilns.... and I'm starting classes soon ... though the issue I see is getting the epoxy that hot... wouldn't it just vaporize? Are there glues that work with that kind of heat?

Alternately... first bake the piece then while it's still warm hit it with the torch all over to minimize the temperature differences.

I see this leading to burn marks LOL.

I have a very cheap broken lid that I think I'll experiment on...

I'm starting to lean towards doing the real thing... it's not as complex as I thought... only two items are needed... no kiln...and years of skill...but everyone starts somewhere...